To provide defendants who are unable to afford their own attorneys, trained attorneys who are educated on capital punishment
Sponsored by Senator Monteleone
Co-Sponsors: Rep. O'Quinn, Rep. Fritchie, Rep. Zeitzer
Be it enacted by the Members of the McG Model Congress
Of the United States of American in Congress assembled
Section 1: Title
This act shall be cited as "Matters of Life and Death" Act
Section 2: Purposes
1. To have every defendant have access to trained attorneys for representation
2. To ensure that innocent defendants are not being put to death because their attorneys are uneducated in the area of capital punishment.
3. To have trained attorneys in the area of capital punishment so that the attorney does not make mistakes.
4. To reduce the number of appeals with good representation
5. To reduce the cost of the case by allowed the defendant to have good representation.
Section 3: Findings
1. An investigation by the Texas Defender Service found that "death row inmates today face a one in three chance of being executed without having the case properly investigated by a competent attorney."
2. 95% of defendants who are charged with capital crimes are indigent and cannot afford their own attorney.
3. Untrained attorneys have been found to be drunk or asleep during trials.
Section 4: Terms and Benefits
1. Set up state organizations.
2. State organizations will educate the attorneys on capital punishments.
3. The education will come from trained attorneys in the field of capital punishment.
4. There will be minimum standards established to an attorney to represent a defendant.
Issue: Criminal Justice
What is Criminal Justice: The system of, practices, and organizations, used by national and local governments, directed at maintaining social control, deter and controlling crime, and sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties.
Who holds responsibility to determining the situation?
- Police
o First step
o Investigate and make arrest
- Courts
o Where the disputes take place and justice is administered
o Defense attorneys
o Judge
o Prosecutor
- Local jails and prisons
o If found guilty there will be punishment
o Prisons now offer a chance to change—offer job training, schooling, and religion and morality is taught so that when the leave prison they have opportunities for a better life
Forms of punishment when found guilty:
- Incarceration: Removal from the general population so that more crimes cannot be committed
- Fines: paid to the state or to victims as a for of reparations
- Probation and house arrest: limit person mobility and opportunity to commit crimes without placing them in jail
- Public service
- Execution or capital punishment: very debated today, some societies choose to use others do not
- They charge adjudication and punishment of the ones found guilty
- Must keep within the framework of laws that protect individual rights
- Punishment received to one found guilty must be fair
- Operate with the rule of law: the principle that no one is above the law. Follows the idea of truth
Punishment through time:
- Middle Ages: exile and wergild, mutilation, branding, and flogging, as well as execution
- End of the 17th century: William Penn addressed the issue to reform Pennsylvania’s criminal code – get rid of torture, along with other forms of cruel punishment
o Jails and prisons replaced corporal punishment
o Marked a drop in Pennsylvania’s crime rate
- 1829: first police were established in London
o Police took control of urban crime
- 1838: Police established in Boston
- 1844: Police in New York City
o At time, the police were note respected by communities
- 1920s: Police upped there system—began to professionalize, new technology, placed emphasize on training and professional qualifications
- 1990s: CompStat –
o Developed by the New York Police
o Information- based system for tracking and mapping crime patterns and trends
o Held police accountable for dealing with the crime
When did the issue gain ground?
- 1967: The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice
o Issued- “ The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society”
o Made 200 recommendations towards fighting and preventing crime
o Goal is to protect individuals and the community
- Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
o A system to approach criminal justice
o Improved coordination among law enforcements, courts, and correctional agencies
Law:
- 2 forms of law
1. Civil laws: rules and regulations which govern transactions and grievances between individual citizens
2. Criminal law: concerned with actions, which are dangerous or harmful to society as a whole, in which prosecution is pursued not by an individual but rather by the state. The purpose of criminal law is to provide the specific definition of what constitutes a crime and to proscribe punishments for committing such a crime. No criminal law can be valid unless it includes both of these factors.
- Criminal Justice deals with Criminal law
Early Death Penalty Laws:
- Late 18th century: The Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon
o Used death penalty for 25 different crimes
- Fourteenth Century B.C.: Hittite Code
- Seventeenth Century: Draconian Code of Athens: death penalty for all crimes
- Fifth Century: Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets – the death penalty was seen as crucifixion
- Tenth Century: hanging became an unusual punishment in Britain
Death Penalty in America:
- British influenced America to use the death penalty
- Europeans brought the idea of capital punishment to America
o First execution: Captain George Kendall
o Spy for Spain
The Abolitionist Movement:
- Crime and punishment (1767)
o Written by Beccaria
o Strong impact through the world
o Said there was no reason for a state to take one’s life
First time to reform the Death Penalty:
- Thomas Jefferson
- Introduced a bill to revise Virginia’s death penalty laws
- Capital punishment should only be used for crimes such as murder and treason
- Defeated by one vote
-
- Benjamin Rush said the death penalty actually increased crime rather than stopped crime
Nineteenth century
- Abolitionist movement gained momentum in the northeast
- States reduced number of their capital crimes – and built state penitentiaries
- 1834: Pennsylvania got rid of executions – put people in correctional facilities
- 1864: Michigan got rid of the death penalty except for when treason was committed
- Rhode Island and Wisconsin – got rid of the death penalty for all crimes
- Most states held on to capital punishment
- Some states increased their capital punishment (especially for crimes that slaves committed)
-
-
-
- After the civil war the electric chair was introduced
- 1888: New York built the first electric chair
- 1890: William Kemmler was executed
- Other states began using the electric chair method
Twentieth Century:
- Beginning of the progressive period
- 1907 – 1917: 6 states outlawed the death penalty, 3 limited it to treason and first degree murder
o 1920: 5 of the 6 states got the death penalty back
- 1924: cyanide gas was introduced
o Gee Jon 1st person to be executed by lethal gas
o Gas chamber was constructed
Challenging the Death Penalty:
- 1960s
- Before the 1960s: fifth, eighth, and fourteenth amendments permitted the death penalty
- In the 1960s: people said it was “cruel and unusual”
- Unconstitutional under the eighth amendment
- Trop v. Dulles (1958)– the US should no longer tolerate the death penalty
Limit to the Death Penalty
- Death penalty = unconstitutional for the rape of an adult women when the victim was not killed
- Death penalty = unconstitutional when the person is insane or has mental retardation
- Cannot be judged on race
- Age 18 and younger cannot have the death penalty
The Anti- Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act 1996
- Affects state and federal prisoners
- Establishes tighter filling deadlines
- Limits the opportunity for evidentiary hearing
- Allows only a single habeas corpus filling in the federal court
- Should speed up the death penalty process and reduce its cost
- Although the problem to this is it may cause death to innocent defendant
o Why we would need better representation
The Death Penalty today:
- Restrict use of death penalty
- Not to impose it on juveniles
- Limit number of offenders it can be imposed on
- In 1998: 300 people died from the death penalty
- In 2003: 143 died from the death penalty
o Declining in the death penalty
Low representation:
- Extremely expensive
- In Ohio:
o Death Penalty representation payment is low
o Causes a shortage of qualified attorneys
• Mahoning County: 4 qualified lawyers
• Trumbull County: 2 qualified lawyer
• Columbiana County: 1 qualified lawyer
• Youngstown Vindicator, September 22, 2003).
- Nebraska:
o The Madison County Public Defenders do not have time to meet with their clients
o So there do not prepare adequate defenses
o Attorneys are withdrawing from their cases
o Lincoln Journal Star, September 22, 2003)
Recent Supreme Court Case:
- February 8, 2008 decision was made
- Supreme Court ruled the electric chair unconstitutional under the state’s constituion
- Nebraska was the only state using the electric chair as the first option to the death penalty today
- Electric chair offends the rights under the state constitution
- The electric chair is intense pain and agonizing suffering
- Prisoners should not be tortured to death
- Man was convicted for the kidnapping and killing of a three year old boy in 1999
- Parts of the boys body were found in his home, in the freezer, dog bowl, and the dog food bag
- And the parts of the boys body was found in the dog’s stomach
- http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ieHhXGyZLlHSadX9oDU_djTkWwFQD8UM92UO2
Huckabee on the Death Penalty:
- Carried out death penalty more than any other AR governor
- Death penalty is neccassary
- Defends death penalty biblically, as well as politically
- Supports death penalty but only as reluctantly
- Build more prisons
- Tougher juvenile crime punishments, let states set them
- Commuted death penalty sentence due to problems at trial
McCain:
- More death penalty
- Stricter sentencing
- More prisons
- Increase penalties
- Voted yes on limiting death penalty appeals
- Voted yes on rejecting racial statistics in death penalty appeals
Bush
- Expand DNA evidence
- Death penalty for deterrence, not revenge
- Use DNA evidence for cases
- Decisions are profound, but made in 15 min
In general costs:
- Death penalty cases are estimated to cost $1.26 million (through to execution)
- Costs $470,000 if person is not executed
- Cost of appeals are 29% of the total expense
- 70% more than non death penalty cases
- 48% more when the person receives imprisonment http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7
Ideas for the bill:
- Public defender must have certain degree to represent
- Government ensure/provide the access to the degree
- Paid correct amount
- Stay on trial until decision is made-- cannot drop out
- Correct time to meet and prepare
Senator Monteleone
S.7
A Bill
To provide defendants who are unable to afford their own attorneys, trained attorneys who are educated on capital punishment
Sponsored by Senator Monteleone
Co-Sponsors: Rep. O'Quinn, Rep. Fritchie, Rep. Zeitzer
Be it enacted by the Members of the McG Model Congress
Of the United States of American in Congress assembled
Section 1: Title
This act shall be cited as "Matters of Life and Death" Act
Section 2: Purposes
1. To have every defendant have access to trained attorneys for representation
2. To ensure that innocent defendants are not being put to death because their attorneys are uneducated in the area of capital punishment.
3. To have trained attorneys in the area of capital punishment so that the attorney does not make mistakes.
4. To reduce the number of appeals with good representation
5. To reduce the cost of the case by allowed the defendant to have good representation.
Section 3: Findings
1. An investigation by the Texas Defender Service found that "death row inmates today face a one in three chance of being executed without having the case properly investigated by a competent attorney."
2. 95% of defendants who are charged with capital crimes are indigent and cannot afford their own attorney.
3. Untrained attorneys have been found to be drunk or asleep during trials.
Section 4: Terms and Benefits
1. Set up state organizations.
2. State organizations will educate the attorneys on capital punishments.
3. The education will come from trained attorneys in the field of capital punishment.
4. There will be minimum standards established to an attorney to represent a defendant.
Issue: Criminal Justice
What is Criminal Justice: The system of, practices, and organizations, used by national and local governments, directed at maintaining social control, deter and controlling crime, and sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties.
Who holds responsibility to determining the situation?
- Police
o First step
o Investigate and make arrest
- Courts
o Where the disputes take place and justice is administered
o Defense attorneys
o Judge
o Prosecutor
- Local jails and prisons
o If found guilty there will be punishment
o Prisons now offer a chance to change—offer job training, schooling, and religion and morality is taught so that when the leave prison they have opportunities for a better life
Forms of punishment when found guilty:
- Incarceration: Removal from the general population so that more crimes cannot be committed
- Fines: paid to the state or to victims as a for of reparations
- Probation and house arrest: limit person mobility and opportunity to commit crimes without placing them in jail
- Public service
- Execution or capital punishment: very debated today, some societies choose to use others do not
- They charge adjudication and punishment of the ones found guilty
- Must keep within the framework of laws that protect individual rights
- Punishment received to one found guilty must be fair
- Operate with the rule of law: the principle that no one is above the law. Follows the idea of truth
Punishment through time:
- Middle Ages: exile and wergild, mutilation, branding, and flogging, as well as execution
- End of the 17th century: William Penn addressed the issue to reform Pennsylvania’s criminal code – get rid of torture, along with other forms of cruel punishment
o Jails and prisons replaced corporal punishment
o Marked a drop in Pennsylvania’s crime rate
- 1829: first police were established in London
o Police took control of urban crime
- 1838: Police established in Boston
- 1844: Police in New York City
o At time, the police were note respected by communities
- 1920s: Police upped there system—began to professionalize, new technology, placed emphasize on training and professional qualifications
- 1990s: CompStat –
o Developed by the New York Police
o Information- based system for tracking and mapping crime patterns and trends
o Held police accountable for dealing with the crime
When did the issue gain ground?
- 1967: The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice
o Issued- “ The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society”
o Made 200 recommendations towards fighting and preventing crime
o Goal is to protect individuals and the community
- Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
o A system to approach criminal justice
o Improved coordination among law enforcements, courts, and correctional agencies
Law:
- 2 forms of law
1. Civil laws: rules and regulations which govern transactions and grievances between individual citizens
2. Criminal law: concerned with actions, which are dangerous or harmful to society as a whole, in which prosecution is pursued not by an individual but rather by the state. The purpose of criminal law is to provide the specific definition of what constitutes a crime and to proscribe punishments for committing such a crime. No criminal law can be valid unless it includes both of these factors.
- Criminal Justice deals with Criminal law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_justice
The Death Penalty:
Early Death Penalty Laws:
- Late 18th century: The Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon
o Used death penalty for 25 different crimes
- Fourteenth Century B.C.: Hittite Code
- Seventeenth Century: Draconian Code of Athens: death penalty for all crimes
- Fifth Century: Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets – the death penalty was seen as crucifixion
- Tenth Century: hanging became an unusual punishment in Britain
Death Penalty in America:
- British influenced America to use the death penalty
- Europeans brought the idea of capital punishment to America
o First execution: Captain George Kendall
o Spy for Spain
The Abolitionist Movement:
- Crime and punishment (1767)
o Written by Beccaria
o Strong impact through the world
o Said there was no reason for a state to take one’s life
First time to reform the Death Penalty:
- Thomas Jefferson
- Introduced a bill to revise Virginia’s death penalty laws
- Capital punishment should only be used for crimes such as murder and treason
- Defeated by one vote
-
- Benjamin Rush said the death penalty actually increased crime rather than stopped crime
Nineteenth century
- Abolitionist movement gained momentum in the northeast
- States reduced number of their capital crimes – and built state penitentiaries
- 1834: Pennsylvania got rid of executions – put people in correctional facilities
- 1864: Michigan got rid of the death penalty except for when treason was committed
- Rhode Island and Wisconsin – got rid of the death penalty for all crimes
- Most states held on to capital punishment
- Some states increased their capital punishment (especially for crimes that slaves committed)
-
-
-
- After the civil war the electric chair was introduced
- 1888: New York built the first electric chair
- 1890: William Kemmler was executed
- Other states began using the electric chair method
Twentieth Century:
- Beginning of the progressive period
- 1907 – 1917: 6 states outlawed the death penalty, 3 limited it to treason and first degree murder
o 1920: 5 of the 6 states got the death penalty back
- 1924: cyanide gas was introduced
o Gee Jon 1st person to be executed by lethal gas
o Gas chamber was constructed
Challenging the Death Penalty:
- 1960s
- Before the 1960s: fifth, eighth, and fourteenth amendments permitted the death penalty
- In the 1960s: people said it was “cruel and unusual”
- Unconstitutional under the eighth amendment
- Trop v. Dulles (1958)– the US should no longer tolerate the death penalty
Limit to the Death Penalty
- Death penalty = unconstitutional for the rape of an adult women when the victim was not killed
- Death penalty = unconstitutional when the person is insane or has mental retardation
- Cannot be judged on race
- Age 18 and younger cannot have the death penalty
There are 60 reasons to receive the death penalty:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=29&did=192
The Anti- Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act 1996
- Affects state and federal prisoners
- Establishes tighter filling deadlines
- Limits the opportunity for evidentiary hearing
- Allows only a single habeas corpus filling in the federal court
- Should speed up the death penalty process and reduce its cost
- Although the problem to this is it may cause death to innocent defendant
o Why we would need better representation
The Death Penalty today:
- Restrict use of death penalty
- Not to impose it on juveniles
- Limit number of offenders it can be imposed on
- In 1998: 300 people died from the death penalty
- In 2003: 143 died from the death penalty
o Declining in the death penalty
Facts on the Death Penalty:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FactSheet.pdf
Low representation:
- Extremely expensive
- In Ohio:
o Death Penalty representation payment is low
o Causes a shortage of qualified attorneys
• Mahoning County: 4 qualified lawyers
• Trumbull County: 2 qualified lawyer
• Columbiana County: 1 qualified lawyer
• Youngstown Vindicator, September 22, 2003).
- Nebraska:
o The Madison County Public Defenders do not have time to meet with their clients
o So there do not prepare adequate defenses
o Attorneys are withdrawing from their cases
o Lincoln Journal Star, September 22, 2003)
Recent Supreme Court Case:
- February 8, 2008 decision was made
- Supreme Court ruled the electric chair unconstitutional under the state’s constituion
- Nebraska was the only state using the electric chair as the first option to the death penalty today
- Electric chair offends the rights under the state constitution
- The electric chair is intense pain and agonizing suffering
- Prisoners should not be tortured to death
- Man was convicted for the kidnapping and killing of a three year old boy in 1999
- Parts of the boys body were found in his home, in the freezer, dog bowl, and the dog food bag
- And the parts of the boys body was found in the dog’s stomach
- http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ieHhXGyZLlHSadX9oDU_djTkWwFQD8UM92UO2
Huckabee on the Death Penalty:
- Carried out death penalty more than any other AR governor
- Death penalty is neccassary
- Defends death penalty biblically, as well as politically
- Supports death penalty but only as reluctantly
- Build more prisons
- Tougher juvenile crime punishments, let states set them
- Commuted death penalty sentence due to problems at trial
McCain:
- More death penalty
- Stricter sentencing
- More prisons
- Increase penalties
- Voted yes on limiting death penalty appeals
- Voted yes on rejecting racial statistics in death penalty appeals
Bush
- Expand DNA evidence
- Death penalty for deterrence, not revenge
- Use DNA evidence for cases
- Decisions are profound, but made in 15 min
http://ontheissues.org/John_McCain.htm
Cost of Capital Punishment cases: New York
- Cost the US $256 million since 1983
- Includes $60 million for defense
- New York has not executed a single inmate in that time
- http://www.ncsconline.org/wc/CourTopics/FAQs.asp?topic=CapPun#FAQ204
In general costs:
- Death penalty cases are estimated to cost $1.26 million (through to execution)
- Costs $470,000 if person is not executed
- Cost of appeals are 29% of the total expense
- 70% more than non death penalty cases
- 48% more when the person receives imprisonment
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7
Standards in Capital Punishment Representation:
- no national standards
- State agencies, bar associations, public defender organizations, state high courts, and local court systems have set standards
http://www.ncsconline.org/wc/CourTopics/FAQs.asp?topic=CapPun#FAQ203
Ideas for the bill:
- Public defender must have certain degree to represent
- Government ensure/provide the access to the degree
- Paid correct amount
- Stay on trial until decision is made-- cannot drop out
- Correct time to meet and prepare
Some resources to consider: